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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22588111">Remember the Living</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riona/pseuds/Riona'>Riona</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ace Attorney</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:21:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22588111</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riona/pseuds/Riona</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set around the end of <i>Dual Destinies</i>. The case has left Apollo with a lot of complicated emotions. With Athena's help, he's trying to deal with them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Apollo/Clay references, Athena Cykes &amp; Apollo Justice, Aura/Metis references</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Remember the Living</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I loved <i>Dual Destinies</i> but really wanted a little more follow-up on Apollo's emotions at the end, so here's my attempt to fill that gap!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Apollo visits Athena in the detention centre. He’s not ready to see her; he wants to leave it a few days. But he doesn’t have that kind of time.</p>
<p>She hurries up to the window as soon as she sees him. “Apollo! Are you okay? Were you—” She hesitates. “Did you see the trial?”</p>
<p>“Did you kill Clay?” he asks.</p>
<p>Athena jerks back, the way she would in a trial, when a move by the prosecution took her by surprise. Back when they were on the same side. “Do you really think I would?”</p>
<p>It isn’t a no.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he says. He probably shouldn’t say more than that, he shouldn’t give away anything she could use to manipulate him. “I hope not.”</p>
<p>He’s lost a friend already. He doesn’t know if he can take losing another.</p>
<p>He doesn’t know if he can take this much, either.</p>
<p>Athena presses her hands against the window between them, like she’s trying to reach out and touch him. If she actually did, he’d probably fall apart.</p>
<p>“I hate how much this is hurting you,” she says. “I just – I wish it had never happened.”</p>
<p>No reaction from his bracelet. For now, at least, he thinks she’s telling the truth.</p>
<p>That might make it worse. If she didn’t care about him at all, if she’d been deceiving him from the beginning, it’d be easier to forget the better days between them and do what he has to do.</p>
<p>He can cut contact. He can see her sent to prison. But, if their friendship was real, he won’t be able to leave her behind. She and Clay will team up to haunt him.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-</p>
</div>It’s been two weeks since the phantom was captured, and Apollo is still avoiding the agency.<p>He didn’t realise, at first, that that was what he was doing, but by this point he can’t pretend it isn’t. He goes in for a few minutes every day, just to make it clear that he still works there. Most of the time, though, he’s at the police station or the detention centre, searching for potential clients. Or at the space centre, doing... he doesn’t know what. Not going in. Just... standing outside it.</p>
<p>He’s fine. He’ll get back into his usual routine soon. It’s just...</p>
<p>He just can’t take the shame when he sees Athena.</p>
<p>He’s not sure how he’ll deal with her being beside him in court, if he <i>does</i> find a case. It’s tempting to bandage his eye again, but he has a feeling she might not take that well.</p>
<p>He looks up at the space centre. The sunlight is glaring off the lounge window; the emergency ladder would have been just there. He doesn’t know what he’s doing here.</p>
<p>“Apollo?”</p>
<p>Apollo tenses up. She’s found him.</p>
<p>“You weren’t answering your phone,” Athena says.</p>
<p>It’s been on silent for over a week. Every time it rang, it just took him straight back to the call about Clay. “Sorry.”</p>
<p>Did she come here looking for him, or did she come here herself to see the place where her mother died? It feels like either option would take him into a conversation he’s not ready for. He doesn’t ask.</p>
<p>Athena comes up to stand beside him. He tries to keep his focus on the building.</p>
<p>“Was Aura in love with my mom?” Athena asks.</p>
<p>Apollo looks at her, startled.</p>
<p>“I think I was too little to notice, back when I lived here,” Athena says. “But Aura really seemed...” She hesitates.</p>
<p>“I’ve known Aura for a while,” Apollo says. “I mean, not well. I don’t know if anyone knows her <i>well</i>. We’d just talk when I came here. She never actually said it to me.” He pauses. “But I think she probably was.”</p>
<p>Athena looks at the scaffolding where repairs are being made, her hand at her throat. It takes Apollo a moment to realise that she’s covering Widget.</p>
<p>“Does it bother you?” he asks.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she says. “I think I’m just sad that she’s been suffering.”</p>
<p>Seven years. All that anguish and bitterness, building up inside Aura for seven years. What’s Apollo going to be like seven years from now?</p>
<p>Maybe he’ll be okay. He thinks Mr Wright and Athena might have saved him by uncovering the truth. He doesn’t have to spend those years wondering.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to answer,” Athena says. “But... what about you and Clay?”</p>
<p>Apollo swallows. “What about...?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Athena says. “You and Aura were talking about the people you’d lost. I guess it sounded like you really understood each other.”</p>
<p>Apollo’s heart is beating hard. Something about this moment seems strange and dreamlike, especially with the space centre in the background. It feels like all those years never happened, like he’ll blink and he’ll be a teenager again and Clay will be pulling him eagerly through those doors.</p>
<p>“Aura took hostages for that trial,” Athena says. “And then you kept the hostage crisis going so the trial wouldn’t end.”</p>
<p>He’s been thinking about that a lot. “It wasn’t just about Clay. I had to know if I could trust you again.”</p>
<p>“Did you know Trucy was one of the hostages?” Athena asks.</p>
<p>Apollo stumbles back. Nearly trips over his own shoes. Trucy was in danger?</p>
<p>So he didn’t just suspect Athena. Trucy was in a hostage situation, and he <i>kept</i> her there. He doesn’t understand why anyone at the agency is still talking to him.</p>
<p>“I guess not,” Athena says, with a small smile. “That’s a relief. I didn’t want to think you’d...” She pauses. “But that was still pretty extreme.”</p>
<p>Extending a hostage situation could probably be described as ‘pretty extreme’, yes.</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Apollo says. “It just felt like the only thing I could do.”</p>
<p>Maybe he was in love with Clay. It’s something he’s been asking himself since the body was found. But it’s too late to realise that now.</p>
<p>“I should leave the agency,” Apollo says.</p>
<p>Athena’s eyes widen. “What? We just got you back!”</p>
<p>“I tried to have one of my colleagues convicted,” Apollo says. “I endangered my boss’s daughter. I don’t think any of you can really want someone who—”</p>
<p>“No! There’s nothing against that in your contract!”</p>
<p>Apollo stares at her for a moment, and then he starts to laugh.</p>
<p>“I just – I needed an argument!” Athena snaps. “It’s true!”</p>
<p>“Objection!” He can’t resist it. “Mr Wright didn’t even make us sign contracts.”</p>
<p>“He really should have,” Athena says thoughtfully, fiddling with her earring. “You’d think a lawyer would know more about employment law.”</p>
<p>Apollo laughs harder. It’s not that funny, but now that he’s started laughing it doesn’t feel like he can stop.</p>
<p>“You’re the only one trying to throw yourself out, you know,” Athena says, more seriously. “We love you. We’ve really been missing you around the office.” She touches his wrist, just below the bracelet. “All of us.”</p>
<p>The bracelet doesn’t react. He suspected Athena because of it; he guesses he owes it to her to trust her because of it now. They really want him around. He hasn’t just pushed away all the living people in his life, left himself stranded alone with Clay’s ghost.</p>
<p>He doesn’t know why he’s been given another chance. But he guesses that’s what defence lawyers do.</p>
<p>He’s fine. He’s not okay, not yet. But he’s fine.</p>
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